The party gained 5.5% of the votes cast in the city-state parliament elections in Hamburg, where the ruling Social Democratic Party emerged other as the winner, gaining 46.7% of the votes cast, but likely lost its absolute majority. The first projections will be updated throughout the evening. Incumbent Mayor Olaf Scholz said he would seek a coalition with the center-left Green Party, which gained 11.7% of the votes, if final results confirm that his SPD lost its absolute majority. But the state elections also helped the pro-business Free Democrats to stay in the state parliament, delivering a rare victory and a comeback to Ms. Merkel's previous coalition partner, which has lost a string of state elections since it failed to get representation in the national parliament in 2013. The regional elections in Hamburg are usually not important for national politics, but this time http://nicilewat.blog.com the performance of the two smallest parties is expected to have an impact on national politics, analysts said. "The AfD had to show that it's capable of attracting voters in the west and doesn't remain an eastern German protest party. The Hamburg election has been a big success for the AfD," said Oskar Niedermayer, a political-science professor at Berlin'sFree University. More: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/germanys-afd-party-advances-in-state-polls-20150215-00027